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Manchester United won't pressure Carlisle Utd into playing McGinty

Greg Abbott insists he is under no pressure from Manchester United to hand loan man Sean McGinty his debut at Brentford today.

Sean McGinty

The Blues boss says the Red Devils have made no stipulation about the amount of first-team football the defender should get with Carlisle.

Abbott said a long conversation with Sir Alex Ferguson’s No2 Mike Phelan has left him content that the Premier League giants will not demand that McGinty is an automatic pick.

It means the Carlisle manager is free to pair Mike Edwards and Peter Murphy at centre-half again at Griffin Park this afternoon (kick-off 3pm) if he decides not to tinker with the side that drew at Preston.

“I spoke to Mike Phelan for 45 minutes at a dinner and he was really understanding,” Abbott said.

“He said, ‘Sean is your player for a month – use him as you would your own players’.

“They are a good set of people.”

McGinty, an unused sub at Deepdale hours after his move on Tuesday, trained with the Blues squad for the first time yesterday and is pushing for a place in tomorrow’s clash in the capital.

The 19-year-old, who can also play at left-back, has revealed how Ferguson personally urged him to join Carlisle.

Abbott says he is keen to see the Old Trafford prospect realise some of his potential during his time with the 15th-placed Cumbrians.

“You do want to make sure players like this get some football, then go back and tell their manager so we can do things like this again,” added the Blues manager.

“Sir Alex knows his players, where they are, the type of job they can do.

“I thank and commend him and his club for allowing this to happen. On Monday night with our injury problems we were looking at just five subs for Preston and one of them was going to be [youth team player] Jack Lynch.

“Thankfully Sean came in to give us some depth. Other people were prepared to give us players but we had to make sure we knew what was coming, and I’ve seen Sean and know a lot about him.”

Abbott will be without Matty Robson, Paul Thirlwell and Danny Livesey today but Chris Chantler will continue despite a persistent heel problem.

The left-back did not train on Wednesday and Thursday but Abbott said: “It seems like Chris has got through the worst of it.”